Landon Anthony Anderson was born on March 16, 2016 with his umbilical cord around his neck. It took him a few minutes to breathe on his own because he aspirated during birth. He was somewhat jaundiced at birth and at one day old he failed his newborn hearing test and it was repeated the day after failing again once more. We were referred to Morton hospital for a more in depth ear exam where Landon was pronounced profoundly deaf. We decided to get a second opinion at Boston Children’s Hospital which is where he was tested for CMV due to his hearing loss, results came back positive and that was the beginning of our journey with CMV. Landon has had 5 surgeries in the past 5 years 3 being major. He is 100% gtube fed due to aspiration. Landon also has Spastic Quad Cerebral palsy, profound hearing loss, Epilepsy, Polymicrogyria, Cvi, non verbal and other developmental delays. Landon appeared normal on ultrasounds, and I had a perfect pregnancy. Being a first time mom this was really shocking, upsetting and scary. CMV was something I had never heard of or had been told about. It is something that really needs to be talked about and tested for so that pregnant women can take precautions to prevent it.
-Kelli Anderson, Buzzards Bay, MA